Back in the first quarter of 2022, I bought an old Olympus OM-1 (1972) 35mm SLR, a camera that’s underrated but also discussed as being a great beginners film camera. Throughout mid to late summer that year, I spent a good amount of time at my familys’ cottage up in Quebec, where I began testing this camera out for the first time in who knows who long. I decided to go black and white and use Ilfords’ HP5 Plus 400, a film I love working with for its’ rich contrast and development consistency.
Camera Equipment
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 • Hot Shoe Light Meter • Camera Strap
Owners Manual
Download the PDF
For being nearly 53 years old, I was happy to find this camera in pretty decent shape, having only normal wear on the body and some balsam separation in the viewfinder. The battery this camera takes is a PX625, and when looking in the viewfinder, you will see a basic exposure index of [ + ] and [ – ] on the left side accompanied by the exposure meter. If your battery is in right, the exposure meter will simply move up and down between your plus and minus signs. Please note that nothing lights up in the cameras viewfinder, so test out the light meter in a well lit area.
Ergonomically, holding the camera felt natural, and it has decent weight to it weighing ~1.5 lbs. Pressing the shutter button was consistent with sound and feel, nor did the film stick or lag upon taking the picture or advancing the film.
When shooting film, I love using exposure compensation whenever I can, and thankfully it’s easy to do on this camera. I simply set my desired settings for my subject and ensure my light meter reads a balanced exposure. From there, I either adjust my F-stop or shutter speed, preferably shutter speed, from 1/2 to 1 stop under or over. I always recommend bracketing new cameras to see how their exposures turn out so you can determine how you would prefer to expose the film. Nobody likes getting back disappointing negatives. For most of these pictures, I underexposed by 1 stop.
One other key feature that I loved about this camera is the capability to take double exposures, a feature that can be tricky to get right, but really allows for more creative ability with your images. I will be adding more on double exposures to this post once I have tested out different settings for rendering a great double exposure image.
Until then, be sure to download the PDF and read more details about this camera!
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